help, ac not working

[fraza]

i live in australia and its in the middle of summer rite now so its damn hot, and my ac wont work,i had a previouse problem with it, where the power steering pump's belt had rubbed on the wires and split the blue wire that goes to the diode pack, after i fixed that it worked beutifly, but i tryed turnign it on 2day and it wouldnt work,the ac light lit up on the climate controll but nothing happened. i cant figue out what the problem is, relay is fine, diodes are fine, clutch dose enganes coz i jumped it manualy while the engine was running and it dipped the rpm, i have no idea, i dont think it needs re-gassing because it was damn cold when it worked, and also, just another little question, when should my fans kick in, ive never realy had the temp above 2/3rds but i have never seen the fans on

thanx for your help fellas

[TheWatcher]

i live in australia and its in the middle of summer rite now so its damn hot, and my ac wont work,i had a previouse problem with it, where the power steering pump's belt had rubbed on the wires and split the blue wire that goes to the diode pack, after i fixed that it worked beutifly, but i tryed turnign it on 2day and it wouldnt work,the ac light lit up on the climate controll but nothing happened. i cant figue out what the problem is, relay is fine, diodes are fine, clutch dose enganes coz i jumped it manualy while the engine was running and it dipped the rpm, i have no idea, i dont think it needs re-gassing because it was damn cold when it worked,

RTFM

Check the little window (per your owners manual). Is there bubbles or is it clear? If there are bubbles, or there is no freon moving in the window, you have a leak and/or something is broken. If something is broken, you might as well get an R-134 conversion. If there is a leak, you will need a dye test to locate the leak, so it's best to take it to an AC shop, rather than screw around and contaminate the system, which will cost you more in the long run. Based on your question, you don't sound like you have the equipment or experience to fix this yourself (not trying to be mean, but if the system gets contaminated, your gonna pay thru the nose, since more parts will need to be replaced).

and also, just another little question, when should my fans kick in, ive never realy had the temp above 2/3rds but i have never seen the fans on
thanx for your help fellas

On the fans, you have 2, one for the engine and one for the AC, when you turn on the AC, the AC fan should turn on, since your fan does NOT turn on, you need to replace it. My guess is that the engine fan works, otherwise your car would be overheating and die on you.

BTW, I don't know how things are down under, but in the U.S. R-12 has been out of production for years, so you might have a problem finding any.

Peace.

[Honda-Master]

RTFM

On the fans, you have 2, one for the engine and one for the AC, when you turn on the AC, the AC fan should turn on, since your fan does NOT turn on, you need to replace it. My guess is that the engine fan works, otherwise your car would be overheating and die on you.

Peace.

Watcher i agree with most of what you said ,,, but on this part you are a bit off,,,,,,,,,,,,first off when you put the a/c on BOTH fans should come on.......and the suggestion i Totally disagree with is that,... you adviced him that if the fan does NOT turn on replace it ????? Not to be mean but have you heard of diagnosing a problem before pissing money away??????? hell it could be a fuse, a relay. bad wiring. .....,,,,

My advice on the fan issue do not replace fan untill you are absolutely sure that the motor is at fault ...

[Mac]

This could be a few things. How did you jump out the clutch? Did you jump out the pressure switch?

When you jump out the pressure switch and turn the key to run (don't start) and the a/c turned on, both fans should come on. Do they? If they do you could have a leak and be low on freon. Start the engine with jumper in place turn on the a/c and look at the sight glass on top of the receiver/drier, see if there is any bubbles. If there is enough freon you should see flow with no bubbles.

If they don't come on it could be a few other things, but first check the blue wire that was repaired. Let us know what the results are and we can go on from there.

[fraza]

when it did work for a short period of time there was quikte a few bubbles, so my guess is that the system had not been used for a long time b4 i got the car, so all the seals and what not have kinda sat there, and once i got it fired up the pressure kinda killed the seal and now i got a leak.

dose that sound possible??

[fraza]

oh yeh and mac, they way i jumped the clutch was just run a wire strate from the ac clutch to the possitive, the car was off at the time, just testing to see if the magnet was still working

[Honda-Master]

yo fraza...... easy way to chk if you are low on freon,, remove the cap from the discharge hose,,( the smaller one ) push the valve with a small screwdriver if freon squirts out with lot of pressure you got freon,, if hardly any pressure you are very low or out........
Or if you have a set of a/c gauges hook them up and chk pressures 15-30 on the low side ,150-200 high side ,,,,,,pressures also depend on humidity and ambient temperature

[TheWatcher]

Watcher i agree with most of what you said ,,, but on this part you are a bit off,,,,,,,,,,,,first off when you put the a/c on BOTH fans should come on.

Well, I didn't know BOTH fan would come on. I DID know the AC fan comes on when you turn the AC on.

Thanks for the correction.

......and the suggestion i Totally disagree with is that,... you adviced him that if the fan does NOT turn on replace it ????? Not to be mean but have you heard of diagnosing a problem before pissing money away??????? hell it could be a fuse, a relay. bad wiring. .....,,,,
My advice on the fan issue do not replace fan untill you are absolutely sure that the motor is at fault ...

Well, my experience has been, the fan goes bad. By all means, try diagnosing the problem, but if you are suggesting diagnosing the problem, why not list the how to go about it??? Why accuse me of telling him to piss away money, yet you don't tell him how to diagnose the problem? Clearly, I was trying to be helpful, NOT list every possibility under the sun. If you want to suggest diagnosing the problem, then okay, but follow through.

Peace.

[TheWatcher]

yo fraza...... easy way to chk if you are low on freon,, remove the cap from the discharge hose,,( the smaller one ) push the valve with a small screwdriver if freon squirts out with lot of pressure you got freon,, if hardly any pressure you are very low or out........
Or if you have a set of a/c gauges hook them up and chk pressures 15-30 on the low side ,150-200 high side ,,,,,,pressures also depend on humidity and ambient temperature

You can't vent freon in the atmosphere, it's illegal, & you gonna get fined big time if anyone finds out.

I know you're just trying to be helpful (like I am), but you need to be careful about the advice you dispense.

Peace.

[TheWatcher]

when it did work for a short period of time there was quikte a few bubbles, so my guess is that the system had not been used for a long time b4 i got the car, so all the seals and what not have kinda sat there, and once i got it fired up the pressure kinda killed the seal and now i got a leak.
dose that sound possible??

Okay, you got bubbles, so you're gonna need some R-12 added after you fix the leak.

You sound like you just bought the car, is that right? Sometimes people just have the AC recharged w/ freon w/o fixing the leak, to pretend the AC works when they sell the car. Then new owner finds out there is a leak, when the AC stops working. I hope that's not what happened to you.

I would just take it to an AC shop, have them run a dye test, fix the leak, and recharge w/ R-12. If a major component needs to be replaced due to contamination/etc., I would have them convert to R134a (since R-12 is getting harder to find & more expensive). Otherwise, I would stick to R-12.

Good luck.

Peace.

[fraza]

yeh i got the car about 3 months ago and in the process of fixing all the little bugs and stuff,
so how much would it cost for some ac guy to run a dye test and refill it and fix it u rekon???

[TheWatcher]

yeh i got the car about 3 months ago and in the process of fixing all the little bugs and stuff,
so how much would it cost for some ac guy to run a dye test and refill it and fix it u rekon???

Don't know, depends on the mechanic. Most places are pretty reasonable w/ the dye test, because they want the business (fixing your AC). Call the AC shops in your area & compare.

If you don't have the equipment and know-how to properly fix your AC leak, you're gonna have to get it fixed by an AC shop or your mechanic, so ask your mechanic for a quote, then call around if you need to check prices in your area. Typically, if you have a leak, AC parts will need to be replaced due to contamination, so I would go ahead and get an R-134a conversion.

No one is gonna recharge a car w/ R-12 until the leak is fixed here in the states, since it's against the law (you cannot vent R-12 into the atmosphere), and EPA fines are very expensive. I don't know how your laws work down under.

I got my R-12 recharged for $65, but that's the cheapest on the island. I called around, since my mechanic didn't have any R-12. It will probably cost you more to recharge, since you have a leak, so you are using more R-12 than a typical recharge.

Peace.